This invention relates to an exhaust system for motorcycles and more particularly to an improved exhaust system that facilitates servicing of the motorcycle and its exhaust system.
When using a V type engine in a motorcycle, a more compact arrangement may be achieved if the crankshaft of the engine is positioned transversely to the longitudinal axis of the motorcycle with the banks of cylinders facing forwardly and rearwardly, respectively. With such an arrangement, compactness may be achieved but servicing of the motorcycle and particularly its exhaust system can be difficult. These problems are particularly acute if the engine has more than two cylinders so that each bank of cylinders has two or more cylinders. It is the normal practice with such arrangements to have the exhaust ports of the front bank of cylinders facing forwardly and those of the rear bank of cylinders facing rearwardly. It is desirable to feed all of the exhaust pipes into a single exhaust device such as an expansion chamber or muffler prior to discharge to the atmosphere. This can be conveniently done if the exhaust device is positioned transversely of the motorcycle beneath the engine with all of the exhaust pipes leading to it. U.S. Pat. No. 4,327,811, assigned to the Assignee of this application, illustrates such an exhaust arrangement that permits a compact construction and yet locates all of the components and particularly those of the exhaust system where they will not interfere with the rider. With the arrangement shown in that patent, both the front and rear exhaust pipes are unitary assemblies that extend from a flange that sealingly engages the exhaust port of the engine to an outlet that communicates with the muffler or exhaust device. Although this arrangement is particularly useful and compact, in some instances servicing may be difficult inasmuch as it may be necessary to remove the entire exhaust system to service individual exhaust pipes.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved, compact exhaust system for a motorcycle that facilitates servicing of the exhaust system components.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved highly serviceable exhaust system for a motorcycle embodying a V type engine.